Waste firm sentenced after worker run over by excavator

Farm XS (Northern), based in Barnard Castle, was sentenced following the incident at its Staindrop Road site on 29 January 2024.

The 24-year-old worker was struck from behind by the excavator before being run over, suffering fractures to both feet.

The case was heard at Teesside Magistrates’ Court on 5 August 2025, where the company pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 which requires employers to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare of their employees.

The prosecution was brought by Health and Safety Executive (HSE) enforcement lawyer Iain Jordan and paralegal officer Helen Jacob.

The company was fined £4,000 and ordered to pay £4,285 in costs.

After the hearing, HSE Inspector Richard McMullen said: “The outcome could have been much worse. But the failures that day meant a worker received serious injuries.

“This incident was easily avoidable by implementing control measures and safe practices to ensure that workers were not put at risk from moving vehicles, including clear segregation and safe refuges.”

HSE investigation found no risk assessment

An investigation by HSE found that the employee had been working on a waste pile close to moving vehicles without any physical separation between them.

It was also reported that there was no risk assessment or safe system of work to protect pedestrians from vehicle movements.

HSE guidance makes clear that pedestrians and vehicles should be segregated when waste is being manually sorted, and that employers must ensure traffic routes can be used without risking the safety of workers nearby.

McMullen added: “This should be a reminder to the waste industry of the need to consider workplace transport risks and to introduce appropriate control measures to separate vehicles and pedestrians.”